


the first bit

by jeien



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 11:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16197032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: “Mind if I take a seat with you?”The face that looks down at Sougo is what he imagines Ryuunosuke to look like a few decades down: skin kissed by the sun every day, hardworking lines etched with the constant caresses of ocean headwinds, a smile deep and warm as the noontide waters. Sougo wordlessly shakes his head with a smile and scoots over from his place on the back porch.(Day 5 of RyuuSou Week 2018)





	the first bit

**Author's Note:**

> SUUUUPER LATE BUT JASDHFAJKDHF this took forever and my wrist hurts. back to eventing vae i guess 
> 
> Day 5: Family

“Mind if I take a seat with you?”

The face that looks down at Sougo is what he imagines Ryuunosuke to look like a few decades down: skin kissed by the sun every day, hardworking lines etched with the constant caresses of ocean headwinds, a smile deep and warm as the noontide waters. Sougo wordlessly shakes his head with a smile and scoots over from his place on the back porch.

“All my boys really gave you a handful today,” Tsunashi-san says, popping open a can of beer. Sougo can feel some nerves cropping up because he _knows_ he can’t possibly refuse this drink in good conscious if it’s offered, but thankfully his boyfriend’s father nips his impending anxiety at the bud with a brief chuckle. “Don’t worry—Ryuu told me you’re not too fond of drinking. Though we got other ways of making people loosen up around here.”

“I apologize in advance if I don’t seem to bite the bait right away, so to speak,” Sougo says, focusing his gaze at the scene in front of them: of all four brothers, reunited for the first time in years, setting off homemade bottle rockets. It’s everything Sougo could have ever dreamed of as a child, having such a carefree moment. He’s happy that Ryuunosuke can have this time again, after all the passing conversations about how much he missed his little brothers. Sougo pries his gaze away. It feels like he’s intruding on a special moment. “I’ve been told that I’m too absorbed in etiquette to the point of not being much fun.”   

It’s shameful that all his focus has to go towards actually relaxing, rather than just being able to naturally do it like everyone else. It feels _wrong_. Even now, miles away from his childhood home and even further from the life he had been bred in, Sougo keenly feels the clench in his chest that’s telling him _You don’t belong with these wonderfully normal people_.

Tsunashi-san doesn’t say anything for a while; he merely looks ahead to where his sons can be children again, trying to cap the foaming bottle as quickly as they can before it launches freely into the sky with boyish shouts. Sougo catches a glint in the man’s eye—a brief morning mist similar to Ryuunosuke’s when he longs for home—that ages him, humanizes him.

“I hear that you don’t get along too well with your old man,” Tsunashi-san says suddenly. He knows it’s just a passing comment, perhaps even something meant to lead into another conversation entirely, but it doesn’t stop the driving force of the blade going through Sougo’s stomach. All at once the guilt of being a terrible child, of being rebellious, of going against the filial piety that rests as the foundation of their society courses through him—and for a brief moment, he feels like he might actually faint.

But he is in the middle of a conversation with someone important. Fainting can wait. Instead, Sougo settles for a very diplomatic, “It’s complicated.”

“That’s how it is sometimes.”

A collective cry startles the two of them. Apparently, the bottle rocket nearly hit one of the seagulls soaring overhead. The bird squawks with humanlike offense and circles around, flying off the way it came. Kounosuke goes to catch the bottle rocket on the way down and winds up catching it with his face instead. Koutaro and Soutaro begin to laugh while Ryuunosuke hurriedly runs over to check if any of the residual foam went into his eye.

Sougo laughs to himself, softly. Now he understands why Ryuunosuke treats his juniors the way he does. “He really is so kind…”

“He is,” Tsunashi-san agrees, taking another swig of beer. “I’m glad he stayed that way. I got worried the entertainment business might ice him over, but he’s just as much of the man that left here all that time ago. Maybe even more. I’ve got you to thank in part of that.”

“Me? Oh no, sir, I didn’t—”

The eyes that meet his own aren’t the eyes of a man who withstood danger out at sea nor are they of a man whose wisdom spans a little over half a century. They’re merely those of a man, a _father_ , watching all his sons get a little further from his reach every day.

“Thank you for taking care of Ryuunosuke. It means a lot to me. To all of us.”

Sougo bites his tongue from deflecting such earnestness. In these past few years, he’s learned to at least accept the thanks and praise he gets. He’s earned them—and even if he himself doesn’t think so, other people do. So, he will accept this.  

“You’re as kind as your son,” Sougo says in return. He bows his head slightly. “Thank _you_ , sir, for raising him. For letting him pursue this. For… For being a father to him.”

A hand comes up to rest on his head. Tsunashi-san ruffles his hair, with his little sprouts still peeking through the gaps of calloused fingers, and says, “This means I’ll be a father to you too now, Sougo. You’ll always have a home here. You don’t have to do it all at once, but it’ll make us happy to see you becoming part of our family, bit by bit.”  

“Ah, Dad!!” Soutaro shouts from the distance. “Did you make Sougo-san cry?!”

“Dad, what did you do?!” Kounosuke asks at the same time that Koutaro shouts, “Dad, don’t be mean!”  

Ryuunosuke pales and breaks out into a full sprint towards them. “Sougo-kun?!”

“Everything’s fine!” Sougo laughs out, despite all the tears. All four brothers make their way to the back porch, with Koutaro immediately wrapping his small arms around him in a hug.

“Sougo-san, it’s okay to admit that our old man was bullying you,” Soutaro says. Tsunashi-san rolls his eyes and finishes off his can of beer.

Kounosuke offers the bottle rocket to him. “If you want, you can set it off this time. I mean, I know it might be a little childish, but it might help you feel better.”

“I’m okay, really,” Sougo assures them, wiping his eyes. “I’m… just really happy to be here with my new family.”

There’s a glimmer of awe in Ryuunosuke’s eyes that reminds him of a sunbeam. Ryuunosuke softens his expression, resting a hand against his back. “I’m glad. You really gave me a scare, Sougo-kun.”

“Pah, he’s entitled to one after all the trouble you boys gave him today!”

“Sougo-san, Sougo-san,” Koutaro calls, releasing him from his hug, “come make the bottle fly with us! Kou-nii’s right—it’s super fun and it’ll help you feel better!”

 _Bit by bit_ …

Sougo smiles wide. “Sure. Let’s go!”   

**Author's Note:**

> come scream with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jeienb/)


End file.
